Field
The present application relates to a method for creating an overall image of an object from a plurality of recorded images, such as digital recorded images, each depicting a small area of the object.
Description of Related Art
Particularly in microscopy and microscope image processing methods, the problem exists that the image to be created of an object or a sample such as a blood sample, in high resolution microscopic images is much larger than the area that can be recorded with a single image such as by a digital camera. A type of mosaic image with a high resolution accordingly results. The sample or the object of which the mosaic image is to be recorded is moved within a grid while being controlled by the imaging means, and individual images are recorded at previously calculated positions and are subsequently composed into a microscopic image. The result is that the individual images can be composed almost seamlessly. This is for example described in the document U.S. Pat. No. 4,673,988 A1.
Furthermore, to process a digital microscopic image, it is known to load the entire microscopic image into the main memory of the computer and then process the microscopic image by a processor of the computer. Reference is accordingly made to the document DE 10 2006 034 996 A1. Since however the entire microscopic image is too large to be loaded as a whole into the possibly virtual main memory of the computer, the microscopic image is partially transferred to the mass memory. This is termed “swapping” or “paging”. For the computing operations to be executable, the parts of the image must be reloaded into the main memory which takes time.
When the microscopic image is so large that it cannot be completely retained within the main memory, fields are processed individually in the known method with the consequence that either information on the neighbouring fields is not included and imprecisions arise at the edge, or specific algorithms must be developed to solve this problem of the imprecisions. Frequently, these imprecisions are also merely accepted. Special algorithms must then be found to solve the problem of precision at the edge. The document DE 10 2006 034 996 A1 solves this problem by presenting a microscopic image processing method for execution on a computer, wherein the computer has a main memory with a predetermined available memory capacity and a mass memory that possesses longer access time that the main memory, wherein to process a digital microscopic image that consists of pixels, is n-dimensional with n>1, consists of at least two fields and possesses a size which exceeds the available memory capacity of the main memory, wherein a computing operation is used for at least part of a microscopic image comprising the following steps:                a) provision of the microscopic image in the mass memory        b) division of the microscopic image into at least two sections which can be loaded into the main memory and possesses a dimension m, wherein m≦n,        c) for one section of the image, determination of all the pixels that lie in the section of the image and in at least one of the fields to produce a filled image section,        d) provision of the filled section of the image in the main memory,        e) using the computing operation for the pixels lying in the filled image section to produce an image section result,        f) repeating steps c), d) and e) for all image sections, and        g) joining all of the image section results into an overall result.        
However, this patent application is entirely silent about the creation of an overall image of an object, i.e., such as a microscopic image.
Furthermore when positioning the object relative to the microscope lens system by means of which the fields are recorded, deviations in precision can occur, and the precisely exact position therefore cannot be approached. Furthermore, imaging errors can occur in the edge area of the recorded fields which are composed into an overall image, i.e., the complete microscopic image, which arise from optical effects on the lenses of the microscope lens system.